One-Upped
by SpyGirl1969
Summary: A re-post. Sarah is drinking with two friends at college and gets a little carried away. Jareth, naturally, takes advantage of the situation… One shot.


Disclaimer: Labyrinth and all its characters belong to Jim Henson and company. I am making no profit from this story. Storyline and original characters belong to me.

Summary: Sarah is drinking with two friends at college and gets a little carried away. Jareth, naturally, takes advantage of the situation…

Author's Note: This is just a little one shot for fun. None of the 'celebrities' mentioned are real; they are all fictional. Any resemblance to real musicians, actors or sports stars is purely coincidental. Except, of course, the_ real_ celebrity of the story, who belongs to the phenomenal Henson Company.

Author's Gratitude: I must thank my fabulously talented and brain-twin, magialuna, for her invaluable help in making this story the best it could be. I send you a virtual Earthling Bowietm, my dear. *smooches and hugs*

Rating: M

**One-Upped**

Sarah took another swig of her fourth beer and wrinkled her nose. "Ugh. I thought this stuff was supposed to taste better the more you drink it. Now I remember why I never drink beer. It's awful!"

Jessie rolled her gray eyes and laughed. "Maybe you just haven't had enough yet," she recommended, her words slurring together.

"Oh, I've had enough, all right," Sarah replied, setting her bottle aside in disgust. "So, let's get on with the game. Lisa, you won the 'who was kissed first' round. What's next?"

Lisa grinned and waggled her eyebrows. "Who has dated a famous guy… or at least well-known or prestigious… whatever. And if we all have, who has dated the _most_ famous guy."

Jessie raised her hand as if in class. "Ooh, ooh! I dated the guy who was the guitarist for the Spiked Monkeys before they became the Dave Nichols Band," she offered proudly. "He was kind of a jerk, though. And they had a different guitarist by the time they got famous."

Smirking, Lisa replied smugly, "I can beat you there," she said importantly. "I went out with James DeGraff, who played on that soap opera, 'As Days Go By', from like when he was ten years old till he was seventeen."

Sarah frowned, sticking her finger into the mouth of her beer bottle. "I once went on a blind date with a guy whose dad was on the Mickey Mouse Club," she offered, knowing it was weak. Why hadn't she gone first?

Lisa and Jessie burst out laughing, as though Sarah's statement were the most hilarious thing they'd ever heard. "Big whoop, Sarah," Jessie said, still cracking up. "The _guy_ himself has to be famous, not his father or any other relative."

Lisa chimed in after taking a swig of beer. "Yeah, that's right. Like Shane Mathowicz, who I went out with in my freshman year," she said, looking complacently superior. "He's been in something like thirty-five music videos and commercials, not to mention several small roles in movies."

Shrugging as if to imply she was hardly impressed, Jessie said, "I never heard of him. But if Sarah can't get any better than the progeny of a Mouseketeer, _I _can beat you. When I was in _my_ freshman year of college, I went out with Sam Hughes. That's right, Sam Hughes from the Boston Red Sox, ladies."

"Oh, big deal," Lisa said snidely, waving Sam Hughes away as if he were no more than a pesky fly. "You just hadn't heard of Shane 'cause he changed his name. He's _way _better than Sam Hughes because sports guys aren't famous… not _really_. I mean, not to us… We don't even _watch _baseball. But you're right. It's a hell of a lot better than Sarah's 'famous' date." She laughed, slapping her knee, freshly amused by the meager offering.

Sarah raised an eyebrow. She knew she shouldn't say what she was about to say, but Jessie and Lisa were enjoying their laugh fest just a _little_ too much. She gritted her teeth resolutely and shook her head. "Who _says_ I can't do any better? Maybe I was starting small and working my way up."

Two disbelieving faces stared back at her expectantly, but at least she had their interest. "Okay, so spill, Sar," Lisa prodded. "Do tell us who you have dated who's oh, so _very_ famous and well-known."

"Well," Sarah said, picking at the fraying denim in the knee of her most well-worn blue jeans. "He may not be exactly _famous_ like an actor or musician or anything, and he doesn't play baseball or football… But he still counts."

"And will we have even _heard_ of him?" Jessie asked, narrowing her eyes as though ready to refute the validity of Sarah's claim. "Is he rich? A business tycoon? What?"

Taking a deep breath and glancing around the room, Sarah whispered, "He's… he's sort of royalty."

"Royalty?" both girls squealed, leaning closer. "Who is it?"

"He's no one you've ever heard of," Sarah replied, summoning courage to say the words out loud. "And… I didn't really _date_ him."

Lisa blew out a loud exasperated breath and Jessie leaned back. Both were clearly disappointed. "Great," Lisa said. "All that build-up for nothing. He's probably the prince of some two-bit country no one's ever heard of, and his castle's probably no bigger than a backyard tree house. What, did you meet him through some pathetic 'lonely royal personage seeks pen-pal' ad?"

Jessie snorted beer out her nose. "Yeah, he's probably short, squat, balding, and lives with his mummy, the queen. Oh wait... maybe he just had a nickname like 'The Fresh Prince'," she giggled wildly.

Sarah frowned, annoyed with how quickly they had given her up as hopeless. "He _happens _to be a king, and his castle is enormous," she said defensively. "He's gorgeous, and extremely sexy, and he _does not _live with his mother. And we didn't date but he sort of proposed to me…so he _counts_, dammit!"

Lisa and Jessie had perked up as Sarah said her 'celebrity' was a king who was gorgeous and sexy. Both leaned forward again. "So… what's his name?"

"Jareth," Sarah said quietly. Outside, thunder rumbled, sounding as if it were right above the house.

Scrunching her nose, Jessie nervously looked out the window. "Is it supposed to rain? It's only September. Must be some kind of late summer storm…" Jessie was fearful of thunder and lightening. Her childlike apprehension annoyed Lisa, but Sarah found it endearing. She patted Jessie on the knee comfortingly.

Lisa didn't care about the weather. "Jareth what?" she demanded.

"I don't know," Sarah admitted. "He never told me what his last name was."

"I want to see a picture of him," Lisa demanded.

Sarah briefly considered showing them the statue of the Goblin King that was hidden in her closet with her Labyrinth book, Hoggle book-end, and a few other trinkets she hadn't been able to part with when she left home for college. Anything she wanted to keep she had brought with her, for fear Karen would sell it at a garage sale or donate it to a thrift store. In the end, she decided against it. They would think she was insane!

"I don't have one," she said simply.

"So, then what does he look like?" they both asked in unison. "Tell us how sexy he really is," Lisa continued, a look of disbelief still clear on her face.

Her mouth suddenly dry, Sarah said, "Well, he's got wild blond hair and blue eyes… one of them has an enlarged pupil, which makes it look like he has two different color eyes. He's tall and thin, but muscular… very strong-looking. His features are… _aristocratic_. He looks like royalty, really handsome royalty," she paused, getting drawn back into the memory the more she thought back. "And he dresses different than any guy you've ever seen… leather and lace and suede and silk. On any other man it would look ridiculous, but on him, his clothes just look… _hot_." Getting into her description now, she added, "And his pants are sinfully tight…like he enjoys showing off what he's got, and with good reason." She blushed. "His shirts are usually open to about here," she gestured to just above her belly button. "He's… he's the standard by which I measure all other men," she admitted.

"Shooooot," Lisa said, her eyes wide. "It's no wonder you never date; no guy could ever live up to such high expectations!"

**Sarah swallowed hard. 'Not even the man himself,' she thought miserably as his words rang through her mind. _I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me. Isn't that generous?_ **

"I gotta hand it to you, Sar. If you're makin' this up you have one hell of an imagination. Ok, I'll bite... what's he king _of_?" Jessie asked, her interest in the story renewed as she forgot about the strange happenings outside.

With as much conviction as she could muster, Sarah replied, "He's the King of the Goblins."

The peels of laughter broke out once more as Lisa and Jessie fell backward onto the pile of pillows on the floor, rolling around in mirthful amusement. Sarah crossed her arms, feeling incredibly annoyed. She'd known it would have been better to keep her secret to herself, but her famous person was just _so much better _than theirs...

"I'm _not_ making it up," she huffed. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew it was unreasonable to expect them to believe her, but the alcohol had dulled her senses just enough to cause her to hang on to her indignation tenaciously. If she hadn't been drinking she certainly would have thought before the next words tumbled out of her mouth. "You can laugh all you want, but if I wanted to, I could get him here in a heartbeat."

Wiping their eyes, both girls sat back up. "Oh, yeah? How?" Lisa demanded.

"Do it!" Jessie said challengingly.

"You wouldn't like it," Sarah replied mutinously. The room was suddenly lit up as lightening flashed outside the window, casting eerie shadows on the walls from the candles the girls had lit.

Jessie bit her lower lip, worried again. "Seriously, you guys, they didn't say anything about rain for tonight. It's been sunny all week, and today the skies were blue with no clouds. This is really _weird_…"

Sarah hiccupped, tasting beer. "_Maybe_ it means he's coming," she said nonchalantly. "This is what happened the first time I met him, too… Only I haven't wished anyone away… _yet,_" she finished with a slightly annoyed glare at not being taken seriously.

"What do you mean?" Lisa asked incredulously. "What are you talking about, wishing people away? This sounds like some kind of fairy tale or something."

Shrugging in what she perceived was an elegant fashion, Sarah pushed her off-the-shoulder red sweater back up against the sudden chill in the apartment the three shared off campus. "In a way, it is. See… I found out about the Goblin King when I read a book called The Labyrinth. I was fifteen at the time. Only I didn't know he _really_ existed until I called him. I wished my baby brother Toby away to the goblins one night when my dad and stepmom went out to dinner. He wouldn't stop screaming. I was irritated, and I ended up getting so frustrated that I called to the goblins to take him away. To my _enormous _surprise, they obliged me. That was how I met their king."

"And then he _proposed_," Lisa inserted, her tone sarcastic. "Hullo, Sarah," she mimicked in a deep man's voice. "I'll obligingly take your baby brother, and oh, by the way, you're kinda cute... would you please do me the honor of marrying me?"

Jessie snorted again, hugging a pillow against her chest as she cast a nervous glance out the window, where the tree branches were scratching against the glass panes.

Sarah decided to ignore Lisa's ridiculous mockery. Shaking her head, she replied, "No… the proposal came _later_."

Still clearly not buying the story, Lisa said, "So if he was so gorgeous and sexy, and he proposed to _you_… a fifteen year old… what are you _doing_ here? Why aren't you living in the castle, as a queen, with a hot-looking, tight-pants'd king warming your bed each night?"

As soon as the question was asked, the candles were blown out by some mysterious draft, and at the same moment, a velvet voice asked, "You know, I have _often _asked myself that very question these past five years."

Total silence reigned for several seconds, during which time Sarah stood and crossed the room to the light switch. She was convinced, since neither Lisa nor Jessie had reacted to the sound of the voice, that she had imagined it. It wouldn't be the first time, after all. In fact, hearing his voice in her head had grown to be so common that she was actually used to it. With a little laugh, she flipped on the light, illuminating the room.

Her roommates both looked as though they had seen a ghost, but there was no one else in the room. "What's the matter with you two?" Sarah demanded, putting her hands on her hips as she stared at her suddenly stone-sober friends.

"Oh my god," Lisa managed to stutter out, raising her eyebrows and pointing at something behind Sarah. Before she could turn and see what the blonde was referring to, she felt two strong arms encircle her from behind and pull her firmly – almost roughly – back against a solid wall of muscle. She let out a little squeak of alarm as the same voice – real, not imaginary – purred into her ear.

"Well, hello there, Precious. You can't know how _lovely_ it is to be remembered so fondly."

She froze, partly from shock and partly because the pleasure she felt at the unexpected contact was most startling. It was as if she had been expecting… _waiting _for this for a very long time. From the feel of his body pressing into hers, she guessed that he was not wearing armor of any kind. What she was feeling was one hundred percent Goblin King… and she_ liked_ it. She wasn't even afraid, which she had always imagined she would be if he turned up again. Her heart was hammering, but it was in no way out of fear.

Instantly sober, she glanced down at the gloved hands locked around her waist. "Uh… hello to you, too. Look… I just um... I want to be _clear _on something. I didn't wish anyone away," she said nervously. The last thing she needed was to be forced to run the Labyrinth for Lisa or Jessie.

"I am aware of that, my dear," he replied, his voice laced with humor. "I am aware of _everything_ that you have said, and you definitely did not wish anyone _away_."

Nodding, she relaxed ever so slightly. Still, his words implied that though she hadn't wished anyone away, she had wished _him_ _there_, which she hadn't. Not in so many words… not _out loud_. "Good, then. But… uh… I didn't exactly call you, either. I was only… only… t-talking about you, and…" her voice trailed off as her mind mulled the 'aware of _everything_' part of his statement nervously. How much had he actually heard, she wondered apprehensively.

"Ah, yes," he said smoothly. "You were merely boasting about my... what did you call it? 'Sort of proposal'," he filled in smoothly, his voice still right in her ear, sending delightful shivers down her spine. It was very easy to forget that Jessie and Lisa were watching the entire scenario with rapt attention. "However, seeing as you rejected me rather resolutely, I fail to understand your motive in all of this, Sarah."

She attempted to break free of his hold, but he was far too strong for her. The fact should have caused her at least a small amount of trepidation, but it only thrilled her. "Let me go," she whispered, hoping only he would hear. "I can't talk to you like this, I need to see you face to face."

"I am quite enjoying our current position, Precious," he remarked, pulling her even closer and eliciting yet another small squeal out of her before she could stop herself. "I will release you at my leisure."

Sarah remembered her roommates quite suddenly. Glancing over at them, she saw that Lisa's eyes were wide as saucers, and Jessie appeared to be on the verge of drooling. "Don't fight him, Sarah," she said, her voice awed. "Holy crap… You were right about one thing…"

Lisa chimed in as Jessie finished, their voices echoing in stereo. "… he's sexy and drop-dead _gorgeous_."

Jareth chuckled. "_Gorgeous_, am I, Sarah? _Sexy_, tra la la?" he said intimately, his breath warm against her burning cheek. "Had I not heard you say the words directly, I would never have believed them to be true. However, you have piqued my curiosity, my lovely one. Is that what you _really_ think of me, or were you merely attempting to one-up your friends?"

She felt one of his arms let go, but the remaining one was strong enough to hold her still on its own. His free hand came up to play with her hair, and she felt him lift a lock of it to his nose and heard him inhale its scent. "I…" she began, finding it hard to think when she heard his hum of satisfaction.

"Go on," he encouraged silkily, his voice blatantly suggestive as he continued, "I do so love to have my ego _stroked_."

Lisa and Jessie both looked as if they were going to melt, and Sarah was _certain_ she was going to. "_Yes_, all right?" she rasped, the feel of his body against hers and the smell of Goblin King, rain and leather combined were too much to deal with. "I never said I didn't find you attractive, you know."

He chuckled again. "Well, it is still delightful to hear you confess it, sweet. So do _enlighten_ us all as to exactly why you let me slip through your fingers. Or perhaps I should say you shook me _off_ your little finger, for I was – I reluctantly admit – wound quite tightly round it, as you well know."

"I know no such thing," she argued, starting to struggle again. She thought she heard him groan a little as her body wriggled against his, but she couldn't allow herself to dwell on it. Not yet, anyway. "You were just trying to trick me, to distract me from saving Toby!"

"So you _assumed,_ Precious," he growled, the sound reverberating against her back. "The child was never in any danger, and had you but _asked_, I would have told you so at the time," he ground out huskily, placing a hand on her lower abdomen to hold her more firmly in place. "We shall conclude this business here and now. No matter what else occurs this night, you _will_ acknowledge the truth."

"What truth?" she asked derisively. "The truth that you were being sincere in your 'Love me, fear me, do as I say' offer? Come on, I'm not _that_ stupid. I was only telling Jessie and Lisa about it to win a stupid game. I know it was all a distraction tactic... I never really believed that you had…" She stopped, frowning to herself at a sudden memory, words that came back to her in a flash that coincided with a flash of lightening. "That you had…"

Suddenly very uncomfortable, Sarah risked another glance at her friends, who were both just about swooning as they watched her thrash against the Goblin King who, she imagined from all indications, was wearing rather tight leather breeches. "Let me go," she pleaded. She couldn't even see his eyes from here.

In answer, he bit her earlobe and then licked it with his warm, wet tongue, one hand snaking up to rest just under her breast. "Oh, very well," he said with a sigh. "I never could deny you anything."

Suddenly Sarah was released. Turning on weak knees, she regarded him cautiously. Somehow, she couldn't imagine _how_, he looked even better than he had five years ago. His hair was still blond, shorter all over but with several long strands still falling past his shoulders. His chiseled features showed no signs of aging whatsoever. As always he was impeccably, if simply, dressed in a loose-fitting black silk shirt opened nearly to the waist and painted-on black leather breeches which showed off his body extremely well. She realized suddenly that he was a far greater temptation viewed through the eyes of a woman.

Her own body was already protesting the loss of his hands and the warm feeling of him pressed up against her. "Why _are_ you here, really?" she asked, her voice quavering. "You didn't show up merely to help me win a silly game."

"No," he acknowledged with an elegant shrug. "You've grown, matured, to some extent, and... as it appeared this evening that I was on your mind..." his voice trailed off with a slight smirk, "It merely seemed an appropriate time to pay you a long overdue visit, Precious. I wanted to find out if you still stand by your decision, or if you have come to your senses."

"I…"

He held up a hand with an indulgent smile. "No… Do not say anything right now. You are more intoxicated than I realized, and I would hate for you to say something you would later regret." Conjuring a crystal, he set it on the side table, cushioned between the candy dish and a box of tissue. "If… or rather, _when_ you wish to respond, you may do so using _this_."

With that he started to disappear before her eyes. "No, wait!" she cried, but he was gone. Turning around, she was about to say something to her friends, but they were sound asleep on the floor. Sarah frowned. When had they fallen asleep? They had both been listening and watching so raptly. She had expected them to have a million questions after Jareth left, and here they were snoring on the floor! It gave the entire experience an element of doubt. Was she dreaming, after all?

She was suddenly exhausted, as though it were much later than it felt. Shrugging, Sarah glanced sleepily at the clock, noting that it was one in the morning An hour past midnight… in the Underground an hour past twelve was thirteen o'clock, she thought tiredly. She headed into her bedroom, not bothering to change into her pajamas. Falling on her bed, she barely had time to think about the night's events before drifting off to sleep.

The next morning, Sarah woke up late. She didn't have classes, so she hadn't bothered to set her alarm. Groggily, she sat up in bed, frowning. Her head ached viciously; she clearly couldn't hold much liquor if a few beers gave her a hangover. Or perhaps her headache was from the dream she'd had. She could still feel Jareth's hands roving her body, holding her against him as his hard and _very _well-defined planes pressed into her from behind.

She grabbed a couple of Excedrin from the cabinet in the kitchen, washing them down with a glass of water. Wondering why the apartment was so quiet, she wandered into the living room to find a note from her friends.

'S – gone to get McMuffins. Tried to wake you, will bring something back. – J & L'

Well, that clinched it. Lisa and Jessie would have said something about the Goblin King having been in their apartment last night if he had really been there, wouldn't they? It was totally unlike them to ignore such a big thing and just run off to McDonald's. At the least they would have teased her in their note, wouldn't they? Or had Jareth arranged for them to forget he had been there?

The thought of an Egg McMuffin turned Sarah's stomach. But not as much as the knowledge that what she had thought happened last night had been a dream. How could she have imagined it all? And yet she must have. To think that the Goblin King would show up to renew his offer to her was just about the most outlandish idea in the world!

Chastising herself, Sarah picked up the pizza box and folded it in half, taking it to the kitchen to shove it into the trash. She felt like an idiot. Had she really told Jessie and Lisa about Jareth or had that been part of the dream too? Everything was blurring together; that's what she got for drinking so much.

Trudging back into the living room to pick up the pillows and throw blankets scattered on the floor, she stopped cold at the sight of the crystal on the end table. "Ohmygod," she mumbled, sitting down numbly on the couch. "What the hell is this? This is some bizarre coincidence, right?"

With a trembling hand, she reached out for the sphere, picking it up lightly. Had she told the girls the entire story, and was this some kind of elaborate joke on their part? But... it really seemed like one of _Jareth's_ crystals, and not like some blown-glass globe. It was so light and delicate… otherworldly. Surely they couldn't have had time to find such a perfect gag gift just in the time she'd been asleep.

No… it belonged to the Goblin King, all right. Setting it carefully back down, Sarah rushed into the bathroom, tearing off her clothes as she went. Showering faster than she ever had in her life, she toweled off and brushed her teeth, then combed out her hair and blow-dried it. Back in her bedroom, she pulled on fresh jeans, a cream colored cashmere sweater and black boots. Next she hurried back to the bathroom and put on a bit of makeup, then scurried back to her room for a few pieces of jewelry and a spritz of perfume.

Stopping in the hallway, she frowned. What was she _doing_? She had just spent forty minutes freshening up to call an otherworldly king to her apartment to… to what? Shaking her head, she refused to script anything. She had no idea what she would say. She only knew how she had felt with his arms around her, and how the look on his face as he spoke to her had caused an odd sensation within her. It was a feeling she wanted to experience again. Let things take care of themselves as they occurred. He would surely be hoping for her to call to him, otherwise he wouldn't have given her the means to do so; she couldn't bear the thought of letting him down again.

Worried that Lisa and Jessie would come barging through the door any moment toting bags full of cold, greasy breakfast sandwiches, Sarah picked up the crystal carefully in her hands. "Um… hello?" she began, feeling ridiculous. "I don't know how to turn this thing on or anything…"

"That's odd, you had no trouble whatsoever turning _me_ on last night, precious thing," he teased from behind her.

Blushing at the overt innuendo, she spun around to find him standing very close, his hands on his hips, his head tilted to one side. "Hello again, Sarah."

"H-hi," she replied, suddenly doubting everything despite the fact that he stood right there in her living room. "You came," she stated, feeling somewhat foolish and not knowing at all what she _should_ say.

"That I did," he agreed amiably.

She watched as his eyes trailed down, then back up, the length of her body, seeming to take note of the results of her impulsive preening. It unnerved her to realize just her how very glad she was that he seemed to approve. Clearing her throat nervously, she said, "I wasn't sure if last night really happened... if you were really here... or if I dreamed it all."

Raising one eyebrow, he asked, "Which would you prefer?"

"I, uh…" she felt herself blush. "I kind of like the idea that it was real."

He gave her a crooked smile. "As do I."

"So… can I get you anything?" she asked, her fingers picking nervously at the hem of her sweater.

Jareth began to move toward her. "I can think of a thing or two I would like," he remarked with a broad smirk, his tone blatantly suggestive.

She looked up at him in surprise. "Oh! Well… uh…" _Play it dumb, _she advised herself. _He might be up to his old tricks, trying to make you look stupid. _"Okay… we have coffee… tea…" _Me, _the other side of her brain supplied. "Juice," she finished weakly.

"I am not _thirsty_, Sarah," he said dryly, continuing to advance upon her. "However I do have a five-year-old _hunger_ you could curb, if you so… _desired_."

_Okay, that one is pretty hard to explain away… _"Oh?"

He had backed her into the couch. Effortlessly, he lifted her by the hips so she was sitting on the back of it. His hands gently moved her legs apart and he nestled himself between them. "Now, my dear, _this_ is a lovely start," he purred, bending to kiss her neck.

Sarah wrapped one arm around his torso to steady herself. She placed her other hand against his chest feeling his rapidly beating heart. Looking at his face, she saw that his lips were slightly parted. She could feel his breath hitch at their nearness. How could _he_ be so affected by _her_? Realizing her own heart was pounding to match his, she gazed up at him. "Is this real? Do _you_ really… _want me_?"

"More than you know," he rasped, his hands roving her back and rear end. "Shall I give you some proof of my desire, dearest?" he whispered suggestively. Suddenly he cupped her bottom firmly and pulled her into him. "Very well. This may give you _some_ idea…"

Her voice was strangled as she cried out in surprise. "Oh!"

"Sarah," he whispered reverently. And then his lips claimed hers, sealing her to him in a soul-searching kiss. His tongue swept into her mouth as though it belonged there, and she noted with irony that he tasted of peaches.

Her hands found their way into his hair and she pulled him closer. "Jareth…"

"Yes," he breathed into her ear. His fingers were teasing her, his thumb sliding along the underwire of her bra. "What is it, Precious?"

"Was it really true, what the book said? Had the King of the Goblins _really _fallen in love with the girl? Or was that just part of the story?" she asked, her voice shaking as his hands did wicked and wonderful things.

"Again I ask you, which would you prefer?" he asked, and went on to trail kisses along her jaw.

"I think you probably already know that I prefer the former," she breathed. "I _want_ it to be true… so badly. You see, what nobody knew – not even the girl herself - was that she was and _is_ in love with the King of the Goblins... She was just too young to know it before."

He leaned back to look at her and smiled, his pointed canines making him look predatory and dangerous and _perfect_. "Then what needs to be said now is that naught has changed," he declared quietly. "The King is still in love with the girl, and likely always shall be. Tell me you've felt it, too, all these years," he demanded huskily, his breath hot against her cheek. "My Sarah, have I been the only one in torment?"

"I've never forgotten you," she admitted, her voice shaking. "But… I thought I was crazy to ever hope you would come back into my life after what I did…" she smiled up at him sheepishly, "Still… I hoped you would anyway. I dreamed about you almost every night."

She felt him smile against her mouth as he kissed her again. "Come back with me to the Castle Beyond the Goblin City, just for a day," he requested looking deeply into her eyes. "You can decide later if you wish to stay, but come with me now, or I shall die of the want of you."

"Yes," she gasped, feeling him press closer into her. "Take me with you now," she said urgently, hearing the jingling of keys in the apartment door.

"Oh, Sarah, we've got something for you," Lisa sing-songed in her best junk-food-temptress voice.

As they disappeared in a flash of glitter, she heard Jareth chuckle and whisper into her ear, "So do I, Precious, and I believe you'll like what _I_ have for you far better, _I promise_."

The End…


End file.
